Our Bureau

KOKRAJHAR/BONGAIGAON/DHUBRI, Aug 7: After a brief lull, violence has again started in the Bodo Territorial Areas District (BTAD).

 Few hours after the meeting held on Monday in Kokrajhar between various parties and organizations to discuss ways to restore peace and normalcy in the region, three persons were killed and two injured when unidentified miscreants opened fire at a group of people belonging to the minority community at Ranighuli along the Kokrajhar-Dhubri border on Monday night at around 10 pm.

The armed miscreants opened several rounds of fire at group of people in the village, killing Hasinur Sheik, Safiel Sheik and Safidul Ali on the spot and leaving two persons injured. The injured have been admitted to the Lakhiganj Hospital.

The bodies of the deceased were taken to Dhubri but irate people of the minority community blocked the National Highway 31 at Beltoli near Bilasipara to protest the killings.

The incident prompted the Kokrajhar Additional District Magistrate to impose curfew in the district from 9 am on Tuesday till further orders. The Dhubri district administration also imposed curfew from 10 am on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the curfew imposed in Chirang district on August 5 has been relaxed for four hours from Tuesday from 12 pm to 4 pm. No fresh incident of violence was reported in the district, except for the recovery of a body on Tuesday morning in the Amgury area under Bijni police station, which created tension in the area.

The victim has been identified as Hoj Molla (45), a resident of Amguri of Chirang district, who had taken shelter in the relief camp set up at Amguri High School.

Jaynal Abedin, another inmate of the same camp,  said that Molla was missing since August 6. His body has been sent for postmortem.

In another case, Rashida Khatun (27), an inmate of the relief camp at Hapasara High School in Bongaigaon district, died on Tuesday. Talking to mediapersons, her husband Abed Ali said that she had been suffering from fever since the past two days. “We came to this camp on August 4 from our village at West Gomargaon in Chirang district and since then she had been suffering from fever. She did not get proper treatment here and eventually she died today,” said Ali.